1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications services and more particularly to a method and system for facilitating selection of a portion of a non-focusable object presented by a browser application.
2. Description of Related Art
A relatively recent advance in telecommunications technology is an ability for people to use a client terminal to communicate with others. The client terminal may be, for example, a cellular phone, pager, personal digital assistant (PDA), or portable computer.
The client terminal typically has a display screen and an input mechanism. The display screen allows for the client terminal to present text and graphics to a user. On the other hand, the input mechanism allows for the user to interact with the text and/or graphics presented on the display screen. The input mechanism typically takes the form of navigation keys and softkeys. The navigation keys may be arrow keys that allow the user to scroll a highlight up and down through options of a menu presented on the display screen. The softkeys, on the other hand, may be keys programmable by the client terminal to perform a variety of functions. The functions performable may be indicated by a label presented on the display screen above a respective softkey. For example, a softkey with the label “menu” may be actuated to allow for presenting a menu on the display screen. And a softkey with the label “select” may be actuated to indicate selection of a particular option within the menu.
The client terminal may execute a browser application to facilitate connectivity with the Internet. The browser application receives web content from a server on the Internet and displays the web content on the display screen of the client terminal. Additionally, the browser application sends web requests to the server on the Internet. The web requests instruct the server to, for example, send web content to the client terminal.
The web content that the browser application receives from the server may be segmented into units easily presentable on the display screen. These units are called cards. The cards are units of web content that are encoded in a markup language such as wireless markup language (WML), handheld device markup language (HDML), or compact hyper-text markup language (cHTML). The markup language is a set of instructions that cause the browser application to present the web content on the display screen and to accept input from the user via the navigation keys and the softkeys.
The web content that the browser application presents on the display screen can be classified as either focusable objects or non-focusable objects. A focusable object is that web content selectable by the user. For example, a card may cause the browser application to display a menu on the display screen. Additionally, the browser application may allow the user to scroll through the menu and select, using the navigation keys and the softkeys, an option from the menu. As a result, an option defining the menu, in this instance, is a focusable object. On the other hand, a non-focusable object is that web content which cannot be selected by the user. For example, the browser application may present a card having text. The user can view the text, but the browser application might not to allow the user to select any portion of the text. As a result, the text, in this instance, is a non-focusable object.
The browser application presents web content as either focusable objects or non-focusable objects because of limitations inherent to the input mechanism. If the client terminal had a mouse, a track ball, or a touch screen as an input mechanism, then the user could indicate selection of an arbitrary point in the screen simply by “pointing and clicking.” Instead, the navigation keys require scrolling a highlight or cursor, for example, sequentially through objects, e.g., menu options, presented on the display screen.
If the browser application was to present all web content in a card as focusable objects, then, to highlight a menu option of a menu, the user may have to actuate the navigation keys to scroll through a number of objects, not relating to the menu, just to select one of the menu options defining the menu. Instead of having to require the user to scroll through objects not related to the menu options of the menu, the browser application may present web content as either the non-focusable objects or the focusable objects. For example, the menu options may be the only focusable objects in the card so the user may actuate the navigation keys to directly scroll through the menu options, even though text is also presented by the browser application. Therefore, by the browser application presenting the web content as focusable objects and non-focusable objects, the user may have to scroll through a fewer number of objects to select a particular object, e.g., a menu option, presented by the browser application.